English Teams Score Late to Reach Europa League Quarterfinals

Newcastle, Tottenham and Chelsea
all scored late goals to advance to the Europa League soccer
quarterfinals, succeeding after their fellow English teams
failed in the elite Champions League.

Papiss Cisse scored with the final touch of the game last
night as Newcastle beat 10-man Anzhi Makhachkala 1-0 after their
round-of-16 opener was scoreless. Spurs advanced on the away
goals rule following a 4-1 loss at Inter Milan, while Chelsea
secured a 3-2 win in its two-game series with Steaua Bucharest.

“We just squeezed over the line and I’m highly
delighted,” Newcastle manager Alan Pardew told ESPN. “We’ve
had a very, very tough two games.”

The Premier League trio will be joined by Basel, Benfica,
Fenerbahce, Lazio and Rubin Kazan in the last eight of Europe’s
second-tier club competition. The draw takes place today in Nyon,
Switzerland, with the matches being played April 4 and 11.

Arsenal’s elimination two days ago left England without a
Champions League quarterfinalist for the first time in 17 years.
The draw for the last eight of that competition also takes place
today in Nyon.

“It’s a big win,” Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech told ITV.
“I don’t think this was the stage we wanted to go out of the
competition.”

Cisse’s Winner

Anzhi had Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez sent off for a second
yellow card in the 55th minute, though almost won the game in
the closing minutes as Mbark Boussoufa hit the crossbar with a
free kick.

Cisse then scored in the 94th minute when he headed in
Sylvain Marveaux’s cross from the right side. The Senegal
striker also scored in stoppage time five days ago as the
Magpies beat Stoke 2-1 in the Premier League.

“Papiss did it on Sunday and did it again tonight,”
Pardew said. “It was a quality cross and he finished it off.”

After Tottenham won the opening match 3-0 last week, scores
from Inter’s Antonio Cassano and Rodrigo Palacio and an own goal
from William Gallas left the teams tied on aggregate after 90
minutes, forcing extra time at Milan’s San Siro stadium.

Spurs went 4-3 up overall in the 96th minute as Adebayor
poked in the rebound after Samir Handanovic was unable to hold
Mousa Dembele’s shot. The away goal proved vital as Inter’s
Ricardo Alvarez scored with a header four minutes later.

“We showed great character to stick in there,” Spurs
goalkeeper Brad Friedel told the website of tournament organizer
UEFA. “We got a goal and made it difficult for them.”

Chelsea Advances

At Stamford Bridge, Torres’s strike clinched a two-goal
victory that helped overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first game.

Juan Mata opened the scoring in the 34th minute and Vlad
Chiriches replied for Steaua just before halftime, forcing
Chelsea to score twice to advance.

Blues captain John Terry headed in a cross from Mata in the
58th minute to tie the series at 2-2 and Torres netted 13
minutes later. The Spanish striker then hit the crossbar with a
penalty kick.

Basel, playing with 10 men, lost 1-0 at Zenit St.
Petersburg, though still advanced 2-1 on aggregate. After
Zenit’s Axel Witsel scored in the 30th minute, Basel’s Marcelo
Diaz was sent off for a second yellow card just before halftime.
Yann Sommer then saved Roman Shirokov’s penalty kick with four
minutes remaining to send Basel through.

Libor Kozak scored a hat trick to lift his tally to a
competition-leading eight goals as Lazio beat Stuttgart 3-1 to
complete a 5-1 victory. Oscar Cardozo scored twice as Benfica
won 3-2 at Bordeaux to advance 4-2.

Extra-time goals from Jose Rondon and Vladimir Dyadyun gave
Rubin Kazan a 2-0 win against Levante in Moscow after the teams’
scoreless draw in Spain. Fenerbahce ousted Viktoria Plzen 2-1
following a 1-1 draw in Turkey.